Write What You Know

Kick, pass, dribble, score. That’s the goal in soccer, it’s all about the thrill, the excitement of hearing the ball go in the goal, or so I thought. It all started like any normal day, I woke up still feeling tired from the night before. I was prepared for the day ahead of me, everything was normal. Except, for once, I actually had breakfast, something so small yet I had rarely done. I was ready for a long day, it was the first day of summer and my friends and I planned on celebrating it. We were all on the soccer team and loved to play with each other, we’d have small competitions to see who was the best at the sport. The plan for the day was to meet each other at the high school fields and just hang there for a little bit. It was early but not too early, I was ready to win. Sparkly eyed, I ran out the door ready to win. See luckily enough for me the fields were close enough to my house to where I could walk. I saw my neighbors, said “hi”, and continued to walk away. That encounter was awfully weird to me, my neighbors, The Goldsmiths, were extremely weird; see they were an elderly couple that had their kid die a long time ago, but that’s not what freaked me out, they had a beaten down shack in their backyard and when I was little we would play hide and seek and one time I went to hide in their. One of the worst decisions, I walked in and the door shut open, a deep breathing was distinguishable in the back, the smell of dead bodies filled the air. Trapped all I heard we’re the words “welcome” in a soft tone coming from the Connor. Scared, I screamed but no one came to help me. It might not seem scary, but to any 9 year old thats enough to send them crying. The door eventually slammed open, the elderly couple was standing there, in a raspy tone he screamed “never come back here again.” I ran away, heart beating what felt like it was fast enough to go to the moon and back in seconds. Anyways, I finally got to the soccer field and shaken up by that encounter was hesitant to even continue playing, my friend brought a new kid to come play with us, he was amazing at soccer, he was doing moves I could never have imagined. His talent was unmatched, but he had this look on his face, distraught, he had an emotionless face. I asked for his name and he never answered. When I asked my friend what his name was they said Ben, Ben Goldsmith. I looked at him and he said “welcome” in the most eerily soft tone imaginable.